300 children's frocks

Looking across the beautiful Wye valley yesterday.

 I am trying to spend less time on the computer - or rather less pointless time on the computer!  Not trying to outwit games such as Solitaire or Hexa Stack, relaxing as they may be, and good for the brain I dare say.  I am reading instead and now half way through Eve's War, which is very good.  I was surprised to find a real connection with the lady in the Vogue page included in that wonderful old Recipe Book from Totnes - Sheelagh Eastley.  During the War, Mrs Eastley had been the Hon. Organizing Secretary for the Personal Service League, which was sorting and distributing clothing for the unemployed in distressed areas.  Eve Shillington was a volunteer for the WVS depot in Reading, helping to sort and distribute clothing and comforts sent by the USA for the victims of badly blitzed areas.  It turns out it was pretty hard work - getting heavy blankets and woollen coats down from the shelves, as well as jumpers, shirts, trousers, rubber boots, shoes, stockings, socks, layettes, childrens' clothing (some frocks beautifully hand made and embroidered by American women keen to give some joy to people so badly affected by the bombing).    The poor bombed-out victims often had NOTHING - just the night clothes they were wearing when their homes were bombed.  It hardly bears thinking about does it?  

She writes: "I noticed with what loving care the little girls' frocks had been made.  In gay ginghams, they were beautifully smocked and trimmed with dainty lace or rickrack, with dear little pockets and belts.  My eye was caught by a piece of paper tucked into one of the pockets, and I stuffed it into the pocket of my overall  to read later."  It was from a woman called Mrs Fisher, in San Francisco, and Eve replied to the lady, and they became firm penpals until Mrs Fisher's death.  In her first reply she said she had shared Eve's letter with the Northern Californian British War Relief Association, and the letter appeared in the local newspaper.  Mrs Fisher went onto to say she had almost finished her third hundredth of little dresses!  Imagine!

M and I had a lovely walk around Pant y Llyn lake yesterday.  The wind was a bit chilly when we climbed up to it, but at lake level it was warmer.  She gave me another Thai massage this morning, quite intensive, and my shoulder has benefitted.  Then I took myself off for a brisk walk along the old railway line, came back and just needed to sleep, and was out like a light for an hour.

I have started a loaf (to dough) in the breadmaker and will put it in the oven shortly to get a nice crusty finish to it.  The breadmaker finish is a bit pale and wan and not the least bit crusty!  70% wholemeal it is, and now I need more Wholemeal and more 8-Seed bread flour.

Tomorrow I have a jaunt to Antiques in Tents at Burton Court.  I'm looking forward to that.  

I will do a little bit of Yoga whilst I wait for my tea to cook.  Trying to keep things moving.

Middle of the night again . . .

 Time seems to be going very slowly tonight.  I woke just before midnight, convinced it was 3 a.m. but no . . . Then at 1/4 to 3 I woke again, thinking it must be time to get up, but no . . .  I was wide awake then, so have come downstairs and will have to put some Ibuprofen cream on my shoulder as it is complaining a little after the Chiro massage machine yesterday.  He was pleased that it had made so much progress in a week, but a top rib is stuck and just not moving at all.  I had to go to Pets Are Us to buy a dog ball to use between my shoulder and the wall as a pressure aid, to free things up . . .  Trying to think which wall I can use as most have furniture against!  I seem to have started an injury trend as he said he has seen TEN people (9 of them women) with the same problem recently.

I wasn't meeting up with friends yesterday, so I had time to go and bother a couple of Carmarthenshire churches.  I will do write ups later, but this is from St Teilo's in Llandeilo.

St Teilo's had reached such a state of disrepair in Victorian times, with the tower threatening to fall down, and the entire body of the church had to be completely rebuilt.  The top cross was found in the North aisle when renovations were being carried out.  The 2nd one was found outside when a drain was being dug in the 19th C.

I went to Charlies and bought the boys a cat bed each - one squarish and the other rounder.  Both are small dog beds. Alfie has gone for the latter and L. Whale is in the navy blue velvety one.  I resisted buying Spring bulbs as theirs were so boring!  I got myself another pair of smart-casual trousers in a red wine colour, and had a leisurely car picnic and read a bit of a new library book - Eve's War, a diary of Evelyn Shillington, which had been mentioned in my newspaper a few years back when they did an article on her and the diary.  Then off to bother another church (St Peter's) which is near where I needed to park for the Chiro.

I did a short yoga session before leaving, but largely missed out on a walk yesterday, so I will get a longer one in today.

Trying not to catch any news, since I don't like the sound of WW3, Armageddon or Russia reducing the UK to Nuclear rubble . . .

On that cheery note, I shall leave you and return to looking at the quilting Algorithm on Instagram.

. . . Update: and then for the 3rd morning in a row I woke at 9 minutes past 8.  How does that happen?!

A lovely walk in the Elan valley

 

As a thank you to my helpful friends, I wanted to show them a bit of Wales as they don't drive any more so have been stuck at the cottage whilst they've been staying with Ed.  I knew that M loved woodland, so we went to the Elan valley, and it was lovely there, despite no sunshine.  M chose the woodland walk, so we walked over the bridge below the reservoir and then back through the woods.  Then up towards the village to sit by the river there. 

The trees were getting their autumn colours, and it was SO peaceful there, just listening to the river.  We sat on a bench and G and I meditated.  Never done that outside before and it was very relaxing.

As you can see, the reservoir here is still VERY low.  It was such a dry summer and it will probably take a winter's rain to top it up again.

G and M.  They have calmed me down and helped my shoulder no end.  I am no longer in pain and able to think more rationally about NZ and the Airport Challenges!!  

Today I have the Chiropractor again so it's a long drive to Carmarthen.  I am hoping he will be surprised by the improvement in my shoulder mobility.  I will look for a cat bed for the boys to use when I am away, in case they stay out and sleep in the Utility.  Alfie has been using my kneeler mat as a bed, and L. Whale has a Big Box he uses.  I need to look for a smart pair of trousers for my holiday too. I will also have a little look around Charlies, as I always like looking in their Kitchen section.

I have been enjoying looking through Instagram this week as it has changed the Algorithm to Lots Of Quilts and crafting too :)  Nice to have inspiration from other people's work.

Grosmont Church, and more healing

 I will write this up before it gets forgotten.  Middle of the night here - I was woken by Alfie wanting to be let out, and when I first got up I was feeling "chesty" .  This does not surprise me at all, since "I" was sneezing mightily on Saturday afternoon. . .  Once kids meet other kids at nursery or school, it's a constant round of germs!

One of the hills on my local walk.

Yesterday my new friends came up and we did a gentle yoga (which was non-challenging to my ageing body but very grounding and relaxing.)  Then I was given an all-over Thai massage which has freed my shoulder up massively and helped unblock meridians etc all over.  I had energy after that, went out and did some garden tidying, and cleaned the car.  Boy, both were needed.  As a thankyou, they needed to go shopping and asked for a lift to Co-op in town, but I took them to Llandod and they did their shop there.  I thought I would try this Nadiya mix (blended spices) with some turkey mince I had thawed, and although I didn't turn it into Shepherd's Pie, I had some with rice and vegetables and it was so tasty.  I will buy this again.  No crap in it!

You can nearly read it!  Dried Garlic, Ground Cumin, Ground Coriander Seed, Ground Ginger, etc.

Grosmont Church 

This Grade 1 church is huge - no two ways about it, enormous, especially when the actual village is still pretty small.  It is the other side of the road to Grosmont castle.  The castle dates from the 11th C , but the church is 13th C and dedicated to St Nicholas.  It was founded by Hubert de Burgh.

It is of course restored, like so many churches, and by the 19th C the tower was close to collapse and the church not much better, although the actual structure of the original church was unaltered.  John Pollard Seddon and John Etherington Welch Rolls were responsible for its restoration.

It is difficult to show just how vast it is - like a small cathedral. This was built to be a Statement in the landscape.  As you can see the front half of the church has been closed over to keep some heat in!  The roof timbers have been dendro dated to 1232, making it the only pre-1400 church roof in Wales.

With a church of this age and importance, there were of course many  worthies recalled in stone.

A forgotten knight.

Pulpit and Font.

. . . I forgot to turn over the page . . .

Sorry, none of these are terribly readable - I hope you can click on them and enlarge them.

This photo of the nave gives you a better perspective of the size of the church.  Many, many burial slabs of the great and good hereabouts.

Billy - you will have to visit here and do it justice!  There was so much to see and photograph.

Right, back to bed shortly and hopefully I can sleep.  

Family and healing

 

I had company all today as Danny visited, bringing not-so-little "I" with him.  We went to the playground on the Groe, and walked ("I" ran) up to the bridge crossing the Irfon, and then got some lunch/eggs/milk and the girls spent the afternoon hiding under various beds, as "I" is a little noisy and excitable.

Danny got a static shock every time he pretended to grab "I" as she went past.  

It was lovely to have company again, and I'd not seen Danny since we all met up at Aberystwyth, to remember Keith, back in July.  

These were the Lemons all cooked up and ready to depip and be chopped small for the Lemon Marmalade.  Of course, they were cooked very soft by then and were squidgy to chop up!

 I got 4 big jars from £1's worth of lemons and a bag of sugar.

Just after tea yesterday, I had a visit from a lovely couple who are staying with my new neighbour.  He has some lovely guests who he meets at the Meditation Centre in Hereford.  The wife, in this case, does Thai massage and so they had come up so she could see if she could help my shoulder pain.  My golly gosh, DIDN'T she make a difference.  Even just talking to them helped me emotionally.  Her husband does counselling of people with problems, and was telling me all about the Meditation Centre and the form of meditation that happens there. They are such LOVELY people - oh how I wish they didn't have to go back home to France. After they had left I felt very calm and contemplative, and slightly less emotional.  When I am bereft of sleep, my emotions are close to the surface.

Anyway, last night I slept SO well.  Went through from 11 to 6 a.m. and then back to sleep until gone 8 a.m.  My shoulder is so much more comfortable now.  I am having another massage tomorrow and doing some yoga too.  I need to get back to that.  

I will try and do the church write up tomorrow.  I hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

Overwhelmed

 

When I am short on sleep, I find everything hard to cope with.  My shoulder has been so painful, at night particularly, in recent weeks and I am very sleep deprived.  The physio has helped it, but I woke after 3 hrs last night (1 a.m.) and was awake for 2 hrs, dozed a bit, then was awake for more than an hour again.  Tam and Rosie have been here, which is wonderful, but means rest is at a premium.   Tam has helped me with all the little jobs that needed doing - from changing the kitchen light bulb to writing out my NZ Itinerary, the trips I'm on, the route I need to get from hotel to bus stop and vice versa, for each day.  We've google mapped the places I'm staying and I've printed off route maps for the walks between the hotel and coach pick up etc.  I've seen what the hotels look like and traced the routes so I will be familiar - a little - with the area.  

We went into town late morning for a look round the charity shops and I found some brand new slip on fabric shoes, ideal for casual walking in NZ.  Then Tam took me for hot chocolate and cake, which means I have no appetite for tea yet.  This was a Ruby hot chocolate with berries in (I guess more of a hot milk shake!) and a White Choc Rocky Road that I nearly broke the fork on as it had been in the chiller.  (Excuse highlighting - I have pressed a wrong key and can't undo it . . .)

Rosie has been "drawing" and is clearly right handed.  I noticed yesterday that she has discovered on her own, a better way of holding the pen - just like she was being taught at school in a few year's time! This is an improvement on holding the top of the pen - she's found she has more control her new way. Excuse her breakfast bowl in shot . . .

I have a local day out to look forward to next week, as there is the 2nd Antiques in Tents being held next weekend. It will cheer me up just in time to shed my upper clothing and bare my all the next day!  

Hopefully I shall be comfortable enough to write up the post on St Nicholas Church in Grosmont.

Food - both good and disgusting . . .

 

After I had been to see my friend N yesterday, I drove into Carmarthen and went to Chris Thomas's brilliant greengrocery.  Nothing for me in the £1 boxes yesterday, but this lot came to £14.80.  Pumpkin (for Tam and Rosie - carving and soup) was £2.  Raspberries (I've eaten some of them) quite dear at £2 but they are huge and tasty; Two bags of small Russet apples - £1.50 each.  4 big juicy plums £1.  A Kilo bag of 9 lemons £1 (! I am turning them into Lemon Marmalade).  Strawberries £1.50.  3 cucumbers - use 'em up fast - for £1 the 3.  5 lbs Maris Piper spuds £2.50, and then bananas 80p.  As I have another 3 visits to town (as I still call it, that having been our nearest town when we lived in the Cothi Valley) I shall shop there each week for bargains like these.

New shoes to go with skirts/dresses on holiday.

As I was striding past M&S yesterday (clocked up nearly 9000 steps just around town), I thought I would go in on the way back (having bought shoes) and get a good stir fry mix for our tea tonight.  I've just got chicken breasts out of the freezer to go in it.  The sauce is Soy, Ginger and Garlic.

Now, the confession.  I hadn't really had breakfast before scooting out of the house, so stopped at a garage on the way and hastily grabbed a sausage roll without being AT ALL MINDFUL.  I got to the car and looked at the ingredients sticking it shut and was truly horrified at the number of them.  I know many of the bits are preservatives and natural flour ingredients, but even so I do not think I have ever seen anything quite so disgustingly UPF in my life and believe me never will again.  I am ashamed.  

Right, this won't do.  I need to go out for my walk now, change my library books, and make a healthy Minestrone soup for lunch.